"thank you," dua muttered as he gestured towards the living room, but then turned her back to him, in a desperate try to keep her tears from falling. a couple of breaths later, the emotions were put back into a box within her brain, but it was as though as soon as her gaze connected with his, all the memories flooded back. "all mine, yeah," she whispered and swallowed a lump, realizing that from here on out she'd be on her own. of course, her family would step in, but the fact that she'd lost what had felt like the love of her life, hit hard.
when callum admitted that things were weird, dua nodded her head. "really weird," she echoed his words and looked up, crossing her arms across her chest, giving into the urge to cry. as though there was a tether between them, pulling them into each other's orbit, the woman stepped closer but stopped herself before getting too far into his space, when being brought back to reality. there was a part of her that wanted to grab the stuff and run away from this stuffy, awkward air around them, but a bigger part wanted to stay exactly where she was, breathing the same air as him in this familiar space... even if she couldn't allow herself to reach out and touch him.
with callum's ramblings, dua sniffled and finally a few tears escaped her lashes and she hurried to swipe them away. "i know i shouldn't be here... that we decided on something completely else but i kind of don't want to be anywhere else right now. even though i have to fly out later today." the words came out sounding sheepish and a bit nervous, because admitting all this was admitting how much she still cared for him.
"i am tired, but not because of work... or not only because of work," she admitted, taking another step closer without even realizing it. wiping a few more tears away, she shrugged. "i haven't been sleeping well, you know... without..." dua paused and gestured slightly between them and sighed deeply. "you look as tired as i feel," she admitted and sniffled, the tension headache that had latched itself into her brain, suddenly grew tenfold. the woman looked down and rubbed her temple gently. "this is hard," she whispered and continued to keep her gaze averted.
tucking in her bee stung lower lip between her teeth and biting down, dua nodded at callum's words. "i know... i've thought about you a lot too. i mean... it's so odd, not calling you as the first person when something good or bad happens." clearing her throat she finally looked up at him through her blurry vision. taking a few steps closer again, she realized that they were suddenly standing only a foot apart from each other. and not realizing what she was doing, dua took ahold of callum's hand and rubbed her thumb across his knuckles. "you will always matter and be important to me... no matter what."